A few years ago, the AARP asked some attorneys if they would offer basic services to needy retirees at $30 an hour. Everyone of them said “NO, NO, NO!” But then the AARP had a brilliant idea: They asked the same lawyers if they would offer their services to needy retirees for free. Overwhelmingly, they said yes.
How could $00 per hour be more attractive than $30 an hour?
The original offer seemed insulting, a request for legal services at below-market wages. But when the request was reframed as volunteer work -- and therefore meaningful -- most were happy to oblige … because they enjoyed their work. Those who said “No,” the second time, probably looked at their work in terms of money, with a minimal sense of satisfaction or enjoyment.
The lawyers who said “NO” had not learned that whatever you do for a living should be a natural outlet for your energy and enthusiasm. What could be more copacetic than to love what you do and feel that it matters? Connie Podesta only needed two minutes to explain the concept.
Look around you. You'll probably find that the happiest, most engaged individuals are those who are deeply involved in their work, passionate about their community service (or both), even if their time is unpaid.
Why is that true?
Have you ever heard the concept: The highest reward for your work is not what you get, but who you become. Watch Jim Rohn explain this concept in five minutes.
“Hogwash,” you say, “give me the money!”
Well … if earning money is the sole purpose for work … then you may be using the dictionary’s second definition of the marketplace.
mar•ket•place // [mahr-kit-pleys] –noun
1. an open area in a town where a market is held.
2. the commercial world; the realm of business, trade, and economics.
3. any sphere considered as a place where ideas, thoughts, artistic creations, etc., compete for recognition.
However, there are three definitions of the word “marketplace.” The third definition does not use any terms for money, and refers to rewards other than money. By combining the second and third definitions, you discover there are …
Four Boons From The Marketplace
1. The Boon of Financial Freedom
Wages, salaries, and commissions yield paychecks. For most Americans, the marketplace is simply a source for paychecks. Earning a living, which is trading time/skill for money, is the most well known boon of the marketplace. If you were born and raised in America, you think of the marketplace primarily in terms of a paycheck for services rendered, not the vehicle which made America the Land of Opportunity. Listen to Nido Qubein explain why Foreign born Americans think differently. http://www.symbiosis4u.us/Temp/NidoQubein.htm
Ben Franklin, the kite flying author and statesman from Colonial Days, once said “There can be no freedom, of any kind, without financial freedom.” Now, I don’t think Ben defined financial freedom as extreme wealth … like diamond lane commuting to work in a chauffeured Rolls Royce … in order to have any other kinds of freedom.
No, I think Ben Franklin defined financial freedom in terms of having the ability to put food in your tummy, a roof over your head, a fire in your hearth, and … a warm winter coat would be nice during a white Philadelphia Christmas.
However, because humans have a natural propensity to want more (greed), there is a dark side to the Boon of Financial Freedom.
Beware of “FINANCIAL FREEDOM HYPE” in the marketplace.
Hype appeals to a person’s imagination, triggered by a perceived pleasure or benefit. Perceived pleasures such as: not having to look at the price tag on the sleeve of the silk suit, or the sticker attached to the window of the new car, or writing one check to pay for your dream home. Imagine taking your wife on a Caribbean vacation … in your own private jet … to your own private Caribbean island (Richard Branson did). Such pleasures really do exist … in rarified air, indeed.
Do some people really achieve those levels of financial freedom? Of course … but only after they provided an equal or greater value to the marketplace (Richard Branson did). In the meantime, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is … but not always. Sometimes an unexpected shift in the marketplace results in unexpected opportunity. The winds of change frequently precede the windfalls of financial freedom. When considering something new, or something old that is changing, do your due diligence … particularly to market share and corporate longevity. The marketplace may grind out the truth slowly, but it grinds very fine, and rarely forgives purposeful deception.
2. The Boon Of Inner Freedom
The freedom to be yourself and share what you know and love with the world. Les Brown, the famous motivational speaker, once made the comment, “The two most important days in your life are: the day you are born, and the day you realize WHY you were born.”
Have you ever asked yourself why were you born to your parents, in your locale, with your language, and your cultural precepts? What is the purpose for your unique finger print? What is the imprint you are to leave on this world? How about taking a simple Imagineering exercise?
Suppose you were given a six months sabbatical from work. You would receive full pay to cover your ongoing living expenses like mortgage, car payments, insurance, etc. You would also receive an additional full paycheck to cover your sabbatical expenses.
Now, think about this … really think about this …
What would you do? ______________
Where would you go? _______________
Who would go with you? _______________
What would you learn? _______________
Who would you want to meet? _________________
How soon would you start your great adventure? ______________
What significant act of human kindness would you bestow? ________
What legacy would you leave for future generations? ______________
Would you return from that sabbatical, the same person who left?
If you are like most people, you won’t answer any of those questions.
Because … you know it will never happen.
Because … you don’t know anyone for whom it has happened.
Because … you don’t have the time to even consider such frivolity.
Because … you may fail.
Because … fill in the blank ________________.
Few people ever find out why they were born because the demands of earning a living takes all their time and energy (the first Boon of the Marketplace). They miss the Marketplace Boon of Inner Freedom unless … they find a job with a company that encourages them to “be all that you can be” and … gives them six month with double pay to discover “all that they can be.”
3. The Boon Of Location Freedom
Prior to the abolition of slavery 150 years ago, the overt difference between a slave and a free man was the ability to leave one place and go to another … without anyone’s permission. A slave and a free man might both work as farmers, tilling similar fields, live in similar housing, eat similar food, and utter profanities at similar mules … except … when a drought came … or locusts ate the crop … the free man could go where the opportunity for a better life was … better. The slave could not. The free man could exercise the Marketplace Boon of Location Freedom. The slave could not.
When I ask people the “Sabbatical Question” above, about 80% define a desire for some kind of travel or adventure. Their faces glow when describing walking through the vineyards of Tuscany, getting lost in the Louvre, feeding the poor in Calcutta, climbing to base camp at Mount Everest, hot air ballooning over the Serengeti, or … quite rarely … simply waking in the morning without an alarm clock and commuting twenty feet to work while sipping that first cup of marvelous coffee … the Marketplace Boon of Location Freedom includes working from home.
I have enjoyed the Boon of Location Freedom for five years. Don’t ask me to give up my twenty foot commute … unless I can take my camper out in the wilderness and work sitting atop a boulder with all of creation stretched out before my wondering eyes.
There’s an aspect of Location Freedom you may not like. Every day, millions of people get up in the morning and leave their homes where they have … a computer and a telephone. Then they drive to work where they have … a computer and a telephone. On September 11th, 2001 … some of them did not come home. Does that put Location Freedom into perspective?
4. The Boon Of Time Freedom
Time is an unusual Boon, and probably the most difficult Boon to acquire. To me, the ultimate expression of the Time Freedom boon is … no alarm clock. I wanted, and really enjoy Time Freedom by sleeping until I wake up. In contrast, my mother-in-law did not want Time Freedom … at first.
My mother-in-law worked as a school teacher for forty five years. She wasn’t eager to quit working because she did not know what to do with her day if she was not going to work. She finally retired because her retirement income exceeded her employment income. She would lose money by continuing to work.
After she had been retired six months, I asked her if she was bored with retirement. Her answer, “My life is so busy that I don’t know how I ever found time to go to work.” She embellished that comment with, “Hours in life are like closets in a home. It doesn’t matter how many empty hours or how many empty closets you have … something will fill them.”
So the Boon of Time Freedom is not about having nothing to do. It has everything to do with the OPTION of having nothing to do.
That’s what each of the four Boons of the Marketplace gives you … options.
And … options is what I will be speaking about on Thursday, August 5th because I will be detailing diverse ways to implement the four Boons of the Marketplace … in the 21st century marketplace.
Date: Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Time: before 7:30 pm for those who will be ordering dinner,
and before 8 pm for my presentation
Where: Denny’s Restaurant
1015 Blossom Hill Rd
San Jose, CA 95123
(408) 448-6205
Get directions
As guest speaker, I can invite anyone I wish. Of course, you are invited.
Have a great day,
Tom Van Drielen
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